Tooth-brush.



' A. A. LIBBY/ TOOTH BRUSH.

APPLICATION FILED MAYIB, 1914.

1,251,250. Patented Dec. 25,1917.

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ARTHUR A. LIBBY, OF READING, MASSACHUSETTS.

TOOTH-BRUSH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 25, 1917.

Application filed May 13, 1914. Serial No. 838,379.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR A. LIBBY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Reading, Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Tooth-Brushes, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like characters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention has for its object the improvement of brushes which are provided with a combination of bristles or projections of different characters.

In the specific embodiment of my invention chosen herein for purposes ofillustration I have shown a tooth brush provided with the usual hair bristles combined with bristles made of rubber or other similar flexible material.

In the particular illustration herein, rubber bristles are positioned outside the hair bristles, and thus it is possible by proper use of the brush, to cleanse the teeth with the hair bristles and at the same time to massage the gums with the rubber bristles, a combination of friction and stimulation which has a salutary effect upon the condition of the mouth.

Figure 1 is a plan view of the brush with a massaging attachment mounted.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the brush without any massaging attachment.

Fig. 4 is a longltudinal section taken on the line H of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a plan View of a massaging attachment detached.

1 Fig. 6 is a vertical cross-section taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

The brush is shown in the drawings with the usual handle 1, and with an enlarged head portion 2, which in this particular instance is shown as somewhat" wider than the head of an ordinary tooth-brush. The hair bristles 7 are preferably upon an oblong raised portion of one face of the enlarged head portion 2 as best shown at 12, said raised portion and bristles however occupying only the central area of the head, the outer edge portions of which (best shown at 3 in Figs. 3 and 4) extend beyond said raised portion, and form a support for the massage attachment 5.

The massage attachment 5 is hollow and constructed to fit over the enlarged head 2; and around the hair bristles 7. It may be ment obviously renders easy the substitution of one massage attachment for'another.

. The massage attachment is provided with an oblong opening 10 in its top side,-and when mounted upon the brush incloses and fits over the entire enlarged portion or head of the handle, permitting only the hair'bristles to project through this oblong opening. The inside edges of said opening 10, as best shown at 11 (Figs. 4 and 6) are preferably of a thickness exactly equal to the height of the raised portion 12 in which the hair bristles 7 are mounted, and the under side of said edges are so beveled as to fit snugly upon the head 2, and so firmly support the flat top surface of the attachment 5 in the same plane with the top surface of the raised portion 12.

On the top side of the massage attachment surrounding the opening 10, are arranged resilient bristles 14, preferably integral with the massage attachment, so positioned that when said attachment is in position the ends of its resilient projections are approximately'level with the ends of the hair bristles 7 The type of massage attachment herein described and shown in the accompanying drawings may be permanently attached in place, as by cementing or otherwise. Among its advantages is the superiority arising from the manner in which the massaging attachment 5 incases the head 2, presenting an unusually favorable relative positioning of the attachment and the head for strong and durable cementing; and the smooth, even contact between the flat top surface of the attachment 5, and the top surface of the central raised part 12, which greatly facilitates keeping the brush clean.

By such permanent setting many possible advantages obtainable by the use of combinations of stiff and flexiblebristles are unobtainable however. The rubber bristles are ofparticular use in stimulation to health gums that are soft or diseased; and while rubber bristles of a given shape and resiliency might be suitable for a given condition of the gums, an entirely diflerent degree of resiliency or shape might be needed under other conditions.

Consequently it is advantageous to provide a brush so constituted as to permit of the removal of one set of rubber bristles, and the substitution of another set of diflerent shape or resiliency, to correspond With the varying conditions and requirements of the teeth and gums.

I have shown herein a combination brush having projecting edges, or flanges, so shaped that a flexible device bearing massaging projections may be mounted firmly, but removably thereon.

What I claim is 1-- 1. In a tooth brush, the combination of a flanged head bearing bristles upon the central part thereof, and a hollow element bearing resilient projections constructed so to incase said flanged head as to aline its resilient projections With those upon the central portion of said head.

2. In a tooth-brush, the combination of menace a flanged head having a raised central portion, and a holloW element, bearing resilient bristles, constructed to fit over said flanged head, entirely inclosing said head except said raised central portion.

3. In a tooth brush, the head '2 adapted to support an auxiliary massaging device 5, said head being provided With a central bristle bearing space 12 and having laterally projecting shoulders 3 extending outwardly a suiiicient distance to form a support beneath the Working surface or surfaces of said auxiliary device, and whereby said device may be retained upon the brush.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of tWo subscribing Witnesses.

. ARTHUR A. LIBBY.

Witnesses:

MARY C. KEYES, ARTHUR V. Rooms. 

